Hi all . I was just wondering whether anyone else has had the same problem. Whenever I sit down and straighten a leg in front of me, then bend it slowly, I seem to hear a muffled crunch. I thought my legs were particularly strong but now I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm too heavy on top or my thigh muscles are not strong enough. There is no pain when I bend at all but I'm growing a little worried that I could do serious damage when I run. I haven't had any problem with it before but just noticed the squeaking recently.

Its called crepitus. I have its basically,your cartilage in your knee has degenerated and the crunching you hear is bone on bone. Sad thing is it can't be fixed unless you need a total knee replacement. As long as it doesn't hurt you and you can go on living your life it shouldn't be a problem.

I wanted to add. I used to be an avid runner (5 miles every day) mine became worse after that. Now I only make myself speed walk b/c I dont want to damage it any further

ouch. you might want to see a doctor just to double check.

Crepitus was my vote as well. Ask your doc about getting some glucosamine and chondroiten (spelling?). It is supposed to build back cartiledge. My knees have it really bad from all the weight they have to carry. There are all kinds of over the counter stuff with G&C in it. If you try it, make sure you give it time, it takes 6 weeks to notice the effects, but it is a long term fix. Could help you out alot, especially if yours aren't too damaged at this point...with no pain yet, i am thinking you could really benifit from some pre-emptive therapy, like the G&C.

My knees sound like popcorn too, I was told that if they don't hurt not to worry about it, and they don't hurt at all... I take glucosamine too... I run only every second day to protect my knees and I also make sure I work my quads, and my legs all around really when I do a gym workout...

I don't know if any over the counter drugs/supplements are going to build back any cartilage. Once you loose it you loose it (wish i can say the same for fat!). If you think about it.. if you loose part of your ear its not going to grow back, its the same with cartilage in joints. Now, supplements may help with arthritic-like symptoms but its not building cartilage. The best bet is to strengthen leg muscles so that the joints don't have as much stress on them. If all they do is just creak and you have no pain just take precautions to prevent the crepitus from getting worse. That's pretty much all you can do unfortunately.